it's more that it's a LIFESTYLE, like a real lifestyle thing, where people go out of their way to go to a coffee shop or really bond with other serious coffee lovers. oh, and they do know the main coffee providers/importers, stuff the average person wouldn't necessarily know

obviously, i don't have issues with people not wanting to drink basically dirty water (which is rubbish coffee)

and I wouldn't say I go out for coffee to bond with other coffee lovers. Its just there isn't many places you can go for a drink and a chat that doesn't involve alcohol....thats just me anyway. Its also quite quiet in there and sometimes you can sit on a sofa and enjoy a yummy drink so its quite comfortable.

Well... which party is doing the actual dogging? The people inside having weird cramped sex or the ones outside looking in? And what is the other one who's not dogging called? The owner? Handler? Kennel-master?

I know a lot of teenage anime fans, most of them from completely average backgrounds, and nearly all the rest from worse off ones. There's a lot of things you could say about J-subculture (not much point in calling it 'anime' really), but that very definitely isn't one of them. In fact, people from wealthier backgrounds tend to be way more dismissive of it.

And old men? Seriously, I've met about twenty times more middle aged women into it than men. But some "old men" are into it, sure - I'm sure considerably fewer than are into, say, indie music though. And why shouldn't they be? Oh wait, old people having interests. Gross, right?

As I said, I don't know that it's any more expensive than other hobbies and interests, but there is more of a culture of emphemera/merchandise collecting and fetishisation than you might find in the average music fan.

And I think that the extreme of football supporting (going to see home and away matches in the UK and Europe, buying all the shirts etc etc) is essentially a middle class thing these days.

the merchandise collect. Indie fans would never subscribe to it particularly, because collecting is 'oh so uncool' I'm sure.

But I don't think many people measure how much of a 'fan' someone is by their collections of tacky stuff. No more than some music fans judge people based on their having limited edition records, or which gigs they've been to, etc.

convention is that the industry doesn't bother fighting against fans who subtitle the series for other fans. because it's non-profit, it doesn't hurt them. only when a company like bandai or whatever pays for a license is it 'wrong'

So people like Miyamoto Kano come over to the US for cons, and hardly any of her work has been translated. If something isn't ever going to be sold in the west, I'm sure the creators would rather people in those areas still got to read it, love it, and remember their name and work....

I just don't really get people into comic books or "graphic novels", computer gaming, 'science fiction' or films in general to be honest. Particularly those who go to those conventions and things. You all worry me. ALL OF YOU.

I've decided I'm a real world kind of guy. Even if it's boring. I'm not one for fantasy and things.

Not tattoos or piercings, but the extreme crowd that have their tongue split into a fork or have little knobbly bits of metal inserted under their skin - the appeal of that is something that I can't understand.

None of xylopwn, PickledOeuf, acoleuthic and wishpig have even shown up yet. But Theo's lingering around and is bound to put "broads" or something equally loathsome down as a group he doesn't get any minute now...

which I don't think is does, even if it is a fairly significant subset.
I'm not trying to say OMG ALL JAPANESESES BUM OCTOPUSES or anything like that, but I think you're turning a blind eye if you can't admit that there are general aesthetics or whatever in this stuff which are a bit uncomfortable, at least from a Western perspective. Whether or not you're happy to let that pass as cultural relativism is up to you, I guess.

I think it's a case of real/animated. If animated was a major medium in the west, I'm sure there'd be all sorts of gross things that you can't really do without animation.

But even when you take away yaoi, there's lots of normal heterosexual stuff too. I stand by my comment that a significant amount is weird and sometimes offensive because the medium allows for it, more than any cultural differences. Most Japanese people would find that stuff completely ridiculous.

Astonishing, but really no different from any other sub-culture involving physical exercise. I go rock climbing occasionally, very similar sort of people. But, y'know, I enjoy rock climbing, and I imagine scuba diving must be pretty fun too.

so you hate muslims, but they hate jews and you're supposed to hate them so you don't know who to hate more, and then you go to international racist conferences and get chummy with foreigners, bonding over how much you all hate communists or something. right.

they had some medieval re-enacters on Celebrity Masterchef the week before last (bizarrely) - looks like fun for maybe 1/2 hour but I can't imagine getting *really* into it - which I'd imagine you'd have to in order to be accepted. Also, how do they decide who plays the losers? "yeah hi dave, let me look at my list.... okay you're 4th henchman to napoleon and you're going to be beheaded today. is that okay?"

like, if you've got a battle of 500 people, then 250 of those have basically got to agree in advance to be on the losing side. and then how do you actually have a sword fight without killing anyone? i'm sure there is an appeal but I don't get it. it falls between a gap - it's not as skilled/interesting as acting and it's not as visceral as, say, boxing or fencing or wrestling. it's just people getting dressed up in stuff and shouting "arrrr"

I wasn't referring to re-enactment, but role play. So the outcome of the battles aren't pre-determined. You "kill" people by landing a clean strike on their torso with your sword (not a real sword), or say if you hit them in the arm, they can't use that arm.

Don't get me wrong, I love to go down QPR and get drunk and lairy and shout shit at all the northern fans about it being giro day, but at full time, toddle off to the pub and then home.

I just can't understand people who's lives revolve around smashing up other football fans. It's not even spontaneous they set up fights with other firms

My dad was working with a QPR hoolie a couple of years ago. He was all like "Yeah sit in Ellerslie so I can get round quicker to the away fans after - always drink in the O'Neils cos that's where they head so we can get tasty ealy doors". Told my dad how he bricked an oppo team's coach. My dad was like "Er yeah I sit in South Africa road with my son"

That's the bit I don't understand. You've got someone at home you can have sex with FOR FREE. Why would you pay £25 just to be frustrated for 5 minutes and have a deeply unsatisfying wank half an hour later.

I do not understand. I've seen men spend £200 on lapdances and then the next morning not remember a single one...

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